About

10 Comments

P One

Like Ray Peat, and many biochemists, you seem to have a very negative view of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Based on your research so far, do you have an opinion about what is the most healthful tissue saturation percentage for these fatty acids in human beings?

I am also curious if you have ever measured the unsaturated fatty acid composition of your own body tissues. I did this some time ago and was shocked at the amount of unsaturated fats in my diet, and further research suggests to me that the actual percentages of unsaturated fatty acids in the food chain far exceed the percentages documented in the USDA food database.

I recently started to make an effort to greatly reduce unsaturated fatty acids in my diet, and it remains to be seen if I can get the dietary exposure under 10%. I am hopeful to eventually get this under 6%. To say this is challenging in the modern world – with the prevalence of seed-and-grain based animal feeds – is an understatement.

P.S., Maybe you could add a way on your homepage to subscribe to your blog?

I would wonder if there is a lower limit you can reach. If PUFA aren’t necessary for receptor binding of membrane fluidity, both questionable, the theoretical ideal would be zero in human tissues.

The USDA data is probably very bad and it wouldn’t surprise me if it under reported PUFA by 10% or more. There is another reason why your tissues might be high though, which is that PUFA is preferentially stored over time due to poor interaction with metabolic enzymes, relative to SFA. I haven’t had any tissues of mine measured.

There may be data on this, not directly of course but somewhere in the literature thyroid numbers may have been measured in low carb or even ketogenic dieting individuals. Ketogenesis, thyroid, and diet in general are always going to be hard to find info on since they don’t focus on patentable drug targets.

Inflammatory processes in general are upregulated in the face of impaired respiration, and cancer is the ultimate expression of stunted cellular respiration.

Even before cancer or prostaglandin synthesis, PUFA oppose aerobic respiration by competing with glucose for oxidation and being integrated into mitochondrial lipids natively and either oxidizing or messing with the respiratory enzymes due to inhibitory processes inherent in the chemistry of unsaturated acyl chains.

Thanks for sharing those links, and let me know when the book is finished.

Finally had a chance to listen to your interview with Danny – it was really informative and insightful – I’ve got a friend who is diabetic, trying to lose weight the low carb way and improve the hormone and thyroid – all on a ketogenic diet and a variety of vitamins and herbs. It seems like some of us are misinformed and think carbs are the root of all evil.